WAG Experiences with injury recovery time?

[MaryA]

I figured there would be a thousand threads on this topic, but I searched and couldn't really find any. As many of you know, DD (training level 8) broke her foot and hurt her finger on beam a few weeks ago. Her finger is out of the splint and she's back to doing handstands in the living room, so I'll take that as a good sign and am hopeful she may be able to do some bars this week, but she will have 6 weeks total in the boot. She's been in the gym most days conditioning, but obviously, with both "ends" hurt, she's been pretty limited. I would just be interested to hear other people's stories about injury come-backs. How long did it take for your kid (or you, or a kid on your team, if you are a gymnast or a coach answering this) to come back to full strength and catch up to where he/she left off after being given the "all clear" from the doctor? Were there lingering fears from the event/skill that he/she hurt herself/himself doing? I realize that everyone's experience will be different, and just because it only took your kid a day and a half to regain all lost skills it doesn't mean that it won't take my kid 6 months (or vice versa, right? Hope springs eternal ). I'm just curious what other people's experiences with this have been, and coaches, what do you expect to see from a kid just coming back from an injury like this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ingwe]

I really do think every kid is different and even with the same kid, the results can be different. I will use my Dd as an example.

Last August (very end) she broke 4 bones in her hand. She missed both hands doing her Baile. It was a very scary crash as she not only missed both hands, but she also landed directly on her head. She laid there not moving FOREVER.... She got her cast off in the begining of October and by the 1st part of November she was back to full strength and doing all skills. (even that baile)

The year before in October 2011 she broke that same hand doing a yurchenko vault. She was in a cast for 6 weeks. When the cast came off she got her Floor, bars and beam back very quickly. Vault was a serious mental issue for her. She ended up competing a FHS for most of the L8 season. She switched to a Tsuk at the end of the season and ended up competing that for States and Regionals. It then took most of the summer of 2012 for her to switch back to the Yurchenko vault.

Same kid, basically the same injury and two completely different senarios as far as coming back was concerned.

I am sure your Dd will come back no problems after she is cleared. It will be on her timetable and even if she is having some mental issues with the event that she was injured, you can be rest assured that she will work through it.

 

[wallinbl]

It took about the amount of time the cast was on for flexibility and range of motion to return after the cast was removed. Different body parts are different in this regard - the wrist doesn't suffer this nearly as much as the elbow, for example. If the boot is immobilizing the ankle, you'll probably want to talk to the ortho about PT or exercises to regain range of motion in the ankle. DD wasn't expecting this part of it, and was shocked when the cast came off and she could barely bend the elbow. Probably better to be mentally prepared for this if it will be a factor for you.

As for the mental aspect, she was more hesitant than I expected, even after the "all clear". She was fairly methodical about it and wasn't particularly fearful, just interested in ensuring that nothing was done too soon and resulted in further setback. There was some frustration about strength loss, but we generally just told her to keep at it and not worry too much about how long it took. Skills came out the other side much better than expected, and came back fairly quickly with high reps (her gym likes high reps for many of the skills).

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

When DD fractured her 5th metatarsal, she had a boot on for 4 weeks. First competition was 8 weeks, but you could tell she was favoring her foot even though she claimed it didn't hurt. She didn't/couldn't run normally for several months.

 

[mado4]

I figured there would be a thousand threads on this topic, but I searched and couldn't really find any. As many of you know, DD (training level 8) broke her foot and hurt her finger on beam a few weeks ago. Her finger is out of the splint and she's back to doing handstands in the living room, so I'll take that as a good sign and am hopeful she may be able to do some bars this week, but she will have 6 weeks total in the boot. She's been in the gym most days conditioning, but obviously, with both "ends" hurt, she's been pretty limited. I would just be interested to hear other people's stories about injury come-backs. How long did it take for your kid (or you, or a kid on your team, if you are a gymnast or a coach answering this) to come back to full strength and catch up to where he/she left off after being given the "all clear" from the doctor? Were there lingering fears from the event/skill that he/she hurt herself/himself doing? I realize that everyone's experience will be different, and just because it only took your kid a day and a half to regain all lost skills it doesn't mean that it won't take my kid 6 months (or vice versa, right? Hope springs eternal ). I'm just curious what other people's experiences with this have been, and coaches, what do you expect to see from a kid just coming back from an injury like this?

Thanks in advance!

Very different stories…..one of my gymnasts broke her leg(skiing…)…it took her 2 months before she could train again and then I would say about 6 months until she was back in the game...

ANother gymnast dislocated her elbow….she basically was told to come back to gymnastics after 6 weeks of not doing anything with the arm. But she was always at practice conditioning…After 1 !!!!! week she was ready to compete like before..AMAZINGGGG...

I can tell you lots of different stories..it all depends on the injury AND the gymnast !!!

 

[gymmom14]

I hope your dd bounces back quickly. My dd had a major crash doing a straddleback to handstand. Came straight down on her head. Ended up breaking her rib. It was a very long recovery. Not much conditioning you can do with a broken rib. She conditioned when she could, but it was about 8 weeks before she could even hang on a bar, nevermind giants etc. Anyway, she is still working her way back since January. Fear of the straddleback has not been an issue so far.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

12-15 weeks for a broken foot till she can pound on it again.

 

[bookworm]

12-15 weeks for a broken foot till she can pound on it again.

Totally agree with Dunno...my daughter broke her foot right before States one yr and was out for the rest of the competitive season (no States, Regionals or Nationals that year) ; was in a cast for 8-9 weeks and then a boot for about 5 weeks...seemed like it would take forever but when she came back she was better than ever...and went on to JOs the next year and won at JOs , so don't despair...it's a bump in the road..

And because we took the time to allow her foot to heal totally, she never had any sequelae or pain in that foot...

 

[HangingOn]

Broken elbow, epicondylitis bone chipped and wedged in elbow. Surgery that week. Immobilized for 4 weeks. Slowly built up to old skills. Able to vault, tumble, beam but has not tried release bar skill even though she should be physically capable. It's the brain saying I got hurt pretty bad right here. Hopefully fear will disappear when they really dig into up training skills.

 

[profmom]

I've told this story before, but DD broke her humerus on a fall from beam near the end of her L5 season (April). Two surgeries but no cast; off tumbling completely for about three months. She had nerve damage in her hand as well, which did resolve, but very gradually and with twice-to-thrice weekly PT. When she competed in her first L6 meet the next November, she still could not feel the bars or beam with that hand, though her grip strength was almost the same as the hand attached to the non-broken arm.

She did have some fears and she still doesn't particularly care for the beam where she had her fall, but she did the skill she fell on for the first time on that very beam about a week after she was cleared for full action. Hasn't had trouble with the skill or with the arm, though she does have a scar that she enjoys showing off, and a ready-made topic for one essay per year in English class.

 

[Granny Smith]

My dd had a Jones' fracture of the 5th metatarsal (clean break through the bone), happened in January a few years back, she was casted for 4 weeks, then wore a boot for 4 weeks, then wore a thick ankle brace for another 4 weeks and then had PT after that. Total recovery time was 16 weeks. Coaches brought her back slowly and she has never had any problems with that bone since.

This year she had a stress fracture on her 1st metatarsal and a stress fracture on her navicular bone. She had competed on it for about 4 weeks before we really knew what was going on. Once she was diagnosed, she was casted immediately because of the navicular fracture. Like the Jones' fracture this is a high risk fracture and the doctor told her it was a season ending injury (she was casted on 2/4). She wore the cast for 3.5 weeks (doctor took it off early since we were going to Florida, for a meet she wasn't competing in) and then she was in a boot for 2 weeks after that. Once we had the cast taken off, she immediately started using a bone stimulator 3x a day. Doctor was completely amazed at how quick she recovered. What was supposed to be a season ending injury, my dd was able to come back and compete AA at Regionals. Total recovery time was about 10 weeks. Realize though that if it was just a metatarsal fracture, it probably would have been about 4-6, but 10 weeks for a navicular is quite amazing.

I will say that dd also had elbow surgery, OCD in mid-June a couple of yrs back and she was released to train the beginning of August. Beam and floor came back fairly quick, bars a little longer and vault was the last to come back. She didn't even start training vault until November of that year.

Dd has been very lucky, she has not suffered any mental set backs with her injuries.

 

[gymmomtoo]

My DD has, unfortunately, had several injuries over the past few years. Her first (and worst) was about 3.5 yrs ago when she broke the 2nd, 3rd & 4th metatarsal of her right foot. She had surgery and pins for that one. She did it the middle-ish of December. Was in a cast for 4 weeks, I think, then a boot. She actually came back and competed (level 8) at Chicago Style that year--on just beam, I think. Competed AA by the end of the season and competed at State (qualified to Regionals, but our gym doesn't take level 8s anymore). Then the following year she broke her little toe--at the growth plate. You wouldn't think a little toe would cause that many problems, but she struggled with that too! She did it in November. Competed just one event (bars, I think) the first meet in January. Back for AA by February. Had some other (non injury) related issues that made her struggle (weird dizziness problems--she actually had her brain scanned for tumors, but thankfully was okay and it resolved with some PT), but she finished competing at Regionals (level 9). Next year she broke her ankle in October. Missed first meet in January, but then started competing AA. She made Westerns that year. This past year she broke her foot again--beginning of October (mild break though) and competed AA at the first meet of the year. Then bruised her bone of her foot badly and only competed two events at State.

So in her case, it takes weeks to come back, but she did come back! The only mental issues she has had was this past year on bars--she broke her foot hitting the bar on her gienger, so she struggled a LOT with bars this past year--didn't compete the gienger at all until State and missed it there. I think she's starting to get over that now.

 

[rockyrose]

I struggled with wrist pain for over a year that was later diagnosed as a stress fracture near my growth plate. I attended physical therapy for a few weeks, had a cast for 3 weeks, and was unable to tumble for quite some time. After I finished PT, I still had some slight pain but I worked on conditioning to get back into shape. A more recent injury would be when I sustained a concussion. I was permitted to do light exercise such as ballet about a month later, yet would not be allowed to return to gymnastics until month 7, under direct supervision of the coach at all times. It was pretty difficult to bounce back from the concussion as it disrupted my vestibular system/vision, so my coach had me do tons of conditioning at home.

Basically, it all depends on the injury and the person. However, if your daughter listens to the doctor, conditions at home, and has patience she'll be better in no time!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

how happy are you? ^^^that you now know about "vestibular" and used it correctly in a sentence. I'm very proud of you! A Plus for you!!